Page 23 - Thrapston Life January 2023

GUNNER
GABLE
Movie star’s local war
For most of 1943, the biggest movie star in the world called Polebrook and Oundle his home. But Clark Gable wasn’t just playing the part of a B-17 gunner during the war – he did
it for real.
As hard as it is to imagine now, the biggest movie star in the world once casually walked the streets of Oundle and drank in local pubs.
world; so much so, that he was known as ‘The King of Hollywood.’
Captain Clark Gable served with the 351st
Clark Gable was stationed at
Polebrook Airfield, just 3.5 miles
south-east of Oundle, during World
War II. He spent much of 1943 there, shooting a recruiting film for aircraft gunners called ‘Combat America.’
Gable was Hollywood’s biggest star when the war broke out and had won an Oscar for his work in the 1934 film ‘It Happened One Night.’ His portrayal of Rhett Butler in the 1939 film ‘Gone with the Wind’ – still one of the biggest blockbusters in cinematic history – cemented his position as the most famous actor in the
local pubs (including The George in Oundle). Naturally, people scoffed at the very idea of this, but it was true: the biggest star in the world was, for the time being at least, a local boy.
There were no stuntmen to stand in for Gable when war broke out. He didn’t just act as a presenter or narrator for ‘Combat America’ he actually took part in five bombing missions over enemy territory in a B-17 Flying Fortress. On returning from one particular mission over
There were no stuntmen to stand in for Gable when war broke out
Bomb Group, which arrived at Polebrook in April of 1943. Rumours started to spread around the village of Polebrook, and in Oundle itself, that a man looking very much like the Hollywood heart-throb had been spotted wandering around locally, exploring surrounding villages on his motorcycle, and even drinking in
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